Midnight (1939)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Beautiful, moving film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

1939 has always been a magic year for films. I have just viewed this one, & once again this movie proves it over again. Claudette Colbert plays a broke American Woman who comes into Paris & gets into a most interesting situation.First, arriving in Paris, she meets a taxi driver (Don Ameche) who falls for her & she for him. Then she leaves Ameche & happens to wander into a situation where she seduces a playboy who wants to marry her. She goes from being penniless to being a Baroness. Things become quite amazing as she now has a suite at the Ritz Hotel, a chauffeur, & lots of money to spend.This is screwball comedy at its best as the jokes fly throughout the film. Colbert is as good here as in any film. Don Ameche is good, & so is the rest of the cast. Hedda Hopper actually plays a character (Stephanie) in this movie which is rare as she usually plays herself but since the film is set in Paris, I guess they had to give her a role instead. The film even has a classic comedy black out ending. The script has the hand of the great writing of Billy Wilder & is just great.I highly recommend this movie, yet another reason & miracle about that magic year of 1939. This one got no recognition but it is without a doubt another very good film from Hollywoods greatest year.

A delightful movie which proves that Leisen was as talented a director in melodrama("remember the night",the sublime "hold back the dawn") as he was in a comedy.Claudette Colbert gives a wonderful mischievous performance of a would be noble -she is actually completely broke and a true common woman.Puns,mistakes ,misunderstandings abound and there is a funny line a minute .My favorite scene remains the breakfast when the distinguished guests learn that their "daughter" is seriously ill .The screenplay is so inventive and so hilarious you will not get bored a single minute.The title "midnight" hints at Cinderella ,a fairy tale that spawned a lot of movies;even "remember the night" ,the follow-up to midnight had something of "Cinderella".

This 1939 version of "Midnight" does not seem to be related to any of the other "Midnights" made in 1917, 1934, 1982, 1989, 2006. Claudette Colbert is the dolled up Eve Peabody, broke and looking for work in the rain. Along comes ever-so-friendly cab driver Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), who goes out of this way to drive her around and help her find work. Also in here are John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Hedda Hopper, and Monty Woolley, all biggies in Hollywood. Note the cast list, which includes William Hopper, Hedda's son, as a party guest. Also Joyce Mathews, who was married to Milton Berle (twice !) In usual Billy Wilder style, there are elements of a chase, some moments of serious plot, and a whole lot of silly pratfalls that mostly end in good luck. When Eve sneaks into an evening party, pretending to be someone else, she meets up with Georges Flammarion (Barrymore) , who has a scheme going of his own, and he needs Eve's assistance. Rumor has it Barbara Stanwyck was originally going to star in this, and there are definitely similarities to Lady Eve, which would be released two years after Midnight by Preston Sturgess. Midnight also has a similar plot to The Bride Wore Red from 1937, where Joan Crawford sneaks into a weekend getaway with the uppercrust, but one of her own "friends" wants to save her before its too late. In our story, we keep flashing over to the cabbie Czerny (Ameche) who is still trying to track down Eve.... Who will she end up with, and will she be exposed as the fraud she is ? Fun, fast script, and it keeps the viewer enthralled. Colbert plays Eve just innocent enough to make us want her to succeed, even though she is doing some underhanded things. Fun to watch!

Claudette Colbert at her best, playing a down-on-her-luck singer in Paris who is mistaken for a member of Hungarian royalty; she goes along with the deception, but only to help wealthy John Barrymore out of his marital fix. Tightly-wound screwball farce written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, from a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz (with such a distinguished pedigree, the movie has to reach some high expectations--and does so joyfully). Directed in an efficient, brisk manner by Mitchell Leisen, with superb performances by the cast and pleasant, airy surroundings. Remade in 1945 as "Masquerade in Mexico". *** from ****